Abbyknits1997

Little baby ear flapped hat

2012-01-20T07:48:00.000-08:00

This was a hat that I designed and knit up for a neighbor friend of mine. I hand spun the yarn as well. I hope to get this pattern published by the end of the month. I will keep you posted. Such a cute face! I love the way that it turned out. Hope you all enjoy viewing as well. Take care and happy knitting!

Abby

The Shire Scarf

2012-01-18T20:37:00.000-08:00

Here is a brand new pattern that I designed originally with the intention of using it to teach this years Winter Adult Ed Beginner Knitting class. When I finished it and put it on my husband announced that it looks just like something that Pippin would wear! I never thought of that. We of course are huge fans of the classic saga The Lord of The Rings by JRR Tolkien. Now it is published and avalible online for purchase for just $3. Have any comments or suggestions I would love to here them.

Happy Knitting!
Abby

Montana Moon Gazers

2011-08-22T21:17:00.000-07:00

This is the title of my newest pastel. I haven't done pastels in years and thought that it needed a go. I titled this picture "Montana Moon Gazers," because it was originally meant to be the tree line just bellow the Sapphire Mountains but the more that I glanced at it, it was as though they where gazing at the moon too! Where the trees gazing? With one's own imagination you may see that the trees are actually people or maybe even owls! Of course there is no limit to the human imagination. I also saw upon completion that the left cloud looks like a rat. My neighbor and good friend thought she saw a cougar. What can you see? I hope you enjoy and give me your personal feedback about my picture.

Thanks for stopping in I hope you enjoyed,

Abby

Pebble paintings

2011-08-20T14:56:00.000-07:00

I took a walk on the morning of my husband and mine's 10th Wedding Anniversary and found these three pebbles and couldn't wait to take them home and paint them. The first is What I call a heart within a heart. The second is a pebble with two crosses and a third is a heart shaped pebble. Enjoy! Abby

Ready for Spring!

2011-06-19T11:54:00.000-07:00

I am so ready for spring. It has been raining everyday here just about. There has also been lots of flooding going on here in Montana. The Governor signed papers several weeks ago to get assistance from FEMA and the National Guard especailly in parts of eastern Montana near Billings.

I painting this painting called " The Awakening " to remind us all about the earth and the water that have come alive again and in full force! I hope that you enjoy!

Abby

Nuthatch

2011-06-10T11:02:00.000-07:00

Here is a commissioned painting of a nuthatch. I will be making Archival prints of this and some of my other paintings eventually and possibly some note cards as well. I took pictures in stages again for you all to see.

1. The Sketch.

2. First washes.

Some color.

4. Some detail.

5. More detail.

Here is the finished painting!

Have a wonderful Spring Day!

Abby

New Painting!

2011-06-08T21:44:00.000-07:00

Here is my latest painting and I took photos of just some of the stages of layering and washing for you to see. I have always loved looking at the way artists do there paintings in stages. I think that it is so fascinating, don't you?

Stage 3

Well I think that it is always more fun to look at the stages in color, so I skipped 1and 2, the sketching and the first washes of the sky and the mountains.

Here are Stages 4, 5, and 6:

And here is the last Stage 7:

And here it is without the masking tape on it. It came out a bit dark though because I took this one when it had gotten a bit late and dark outside.

Hope it was worth stopping by! Have a wonderful week everyone!

Happy Painting,

Abby

"The Gift"

2011-06-03T15:56:00.000-07:00

My son and I found this on the playground one morning. We took it home after school and I was fascinated by it. I am not sure whether it is a raven or crow feather. By how it looked to me I wonder about the animal that use to carry it. I wonder what trails in its existence on this earth had brought him or her the unique little scratch on the tip. I got me thinking anyhow and made me quite curious. I have my painting sitting next with its subject on top in one of the images and in the background in another. I always feel that it is nice to have a few different perspectives and angles to my subject matter. I hope you all enjoy looking at it. I hope to have some print made up to sell by the end of summer of all the paintings that I want to do during this summer. I'll keep you all posted on that.

Happy Summer,
Abby

A Polar Bear Named Samuel!

2011-05-31T15:33:00.000-07:00

I painted this one last night and when I woke up this morning my son Garrett had already named him Samuel. I think that name suits him just fine don't you? He also said to me, "Mom, did you know that polar bears are on the endangered species list"? I told him, " I know honey, don't you think that is sad"? His response was, "Yes mom I do!" Something tells me that he will be an advocate for all animals when he is older. He is always talking to me about them and our cat Peapod really loves him and she's quite particular about who she likes too. Well without further wait here is Samuel the polar bear!

A Polar Bear Named Averly

2011-05-30T15:03:00.000-07:00

I would like you all to meet a friend of mine. He is a Polar Bear named Averly. I found him at about 10:30 PM last night on my watercolor paper. I have never met a kinder soul. As you can see he is smiling because he is happy! He was happy to be born out of my paintbrush. I haven't used my paint brush in over 4 years now. Did you ever do something in your life that made your heart twitter? Well besides fall in love maybe. A life dream or ambition. Painting does it for me. I can't believe that I have waiting this long to do it. My husband once told me. You need to make time for the things that you love to do, and never make excuses to yourself for not doing them for you shall surely miss out on a lot of things in life if you do. Well I hope to be sharing many more of my newest paintings with you all as I get them done. Till then, meet Averly!

Ta Ta for now,
Abby

Riding the Camel

2011-04-16T13:47:00.000-07:00

This photo was taken over 13years ago. I went to visit my sister in Phoenix, AZ for her 21st birthday. I went with my other sister and my mom. We took a trip to a nearby zoo and I think that it was a bit of a dare to have me try it. I think only my younger sister and I tried it though. Not everyone was game for it. I would love to say that I rode an Elephant by the time that I am 50. I guess I have a few years to go yet. They certainly are magnificent creatures.

I went through about 300 or more photos today all consisting of my Grandparents Retirement adventures. I organized them all in categories and will start painting my watercolors again soon. I haven't had an art show since 2007. I think that I am feeling motivated to do it again.

Happy Painting!
Abby

Where did the time go!

2011-03-21T18:46:00.000-07:00

I've had my computer down for over two months! It's been sad as I have been unable to keep everyone up to date on the things that I have been doing. I have a while to get all caught up with you. I made this dress for a friends daughter and just received a photo of her wearing it and she looks very proud of it indeed. I will be updating you all now more frequently as time allows.

My sister and I will be setting up a booth at our local farmer's market this year! So her and I are putting the finishing touches on our plans for that. Looking forward to a very busy summer! I will keep you all posted on things that we are making for it. My sister has her own etsy store that sell's jewelry using antique and unique items. She fashions the most magnificent jewelry out of crystal that we personally dig up by our family and friends in the summertime. You can find them in her shop at: http://www.etsy.com/shop/ruthwhitehair or at our local farmer's market this year http://www.bitterrootvalleyrealestate.com/farmers_market.htm

Glad to be back on board and I will be posting more of my projects and patterns soon! So be on the look out for them.

Happy Knitting,
Abigail

PS
This was a free pattern and is available on the internet at: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/sprite-4

More Mason Dixon Christmas socks!

2010-12-15T09:23:00.000-08:00

I am so excited to tell you all that Ann one of the authors of Mason Dixon's Knitting Outside The Lines wrote me this morning and has included me in her website. http://www.masondixonknitting.com/ She was so pleased to see all of the different varieties of colored stockings, she said that it made her smile! That is so awesome. She should be smiling because the book that she wrote with her friend Kay is excellent! It is a lot of fun and I love all of their comments that they wrote in it. I especially love their swiff mop cover and the comment about the dog being flipped over and earning his keep. My boys and I laughed hysterically when I read that to them while we were looking through the book together. They are 5 and 7 years old.

I finally finished my stockings and made my loops at the top picking up 5 stitches evenly on the stocking just on the side and knitted an I-cord by using a double pointed needle and knitting the stitches and rather than turning them around move the needle to your left hand and pulling the first stitch tight knit them again always on the same needle, never turning it. I did this for 4 inches then picked up the beginning of my cast on stitches and knit those casting off as I went.

Here are my boys Christmas stockings, done just in time. My boys love them too! I just hope that Santa's bringing lots of Oranges to stuff these, they are a very generous size. Of course I did use size 5 needles rather than 3's like the pattern states originally. Thanks for stopping by and I hope you all have a very merry holiday!

Happy Knitting,
Abby

Mason Dixon knitted Christmas Stockings!

2010-12-13T08:37:00.000-08:00

I just finished up my last class teaching Mason Dixon's Christmas Stockings. It was a class that lasted 8 weeks it was one of my many classes that I teach adult education at our local high school. This last class was a riot! I couldn't stop laughing the girls and I had such a blast. I can't wait until our next one!

Couple things about this pattern that I wanted to mention. In the book Mason Dixon Knitting outside the lines, they have you knitting the stockings with two circular needles. I know that it is a new thing for us to be doing socks that way and some people even like it. Maybe I am a bit old fashioned though. I have done socks for so long with double pointed needles in the round. I decided to give my class a choice of either double pointed needles or to use a size 5 rather than 3 in a 16" circular(which is what I decided to use with the exception of the heel and toe of course). One very important thing that I learned about these stockings which may help you if you are wanted to make them is that you can not do intarsia in the round for the argyle bit. You can only do it flat. If you can figure out some way of converting the pattern for yourself until the argyle part is finished to work it flat then go for it. You'll only have more ends to weave in when your finished with your knitting part. Also check out Abby's Kitchener's stitch for the closing of the toe. Some of my students decide to close their's early instead of waiting for the 6 stitches on each side of them some of them waiting until there where 12 or 10 on each side, that gave it a more rounded looking toe.

One of my students decided to put bells and bows on the front of her stocking which I thought was a really clever idea. Another student decided with her first sock(which was for her) she would put colored beads in between the striped in her sock, another really clever idea that I had not thought of before. Thank you ladies for all your ideas, love and support. You all teach me a lot!

I was missing three students the last class for the stockings mainly due to the icy road conditions. So I still had seven. Those seven students I had model their stockings for me to share with you all. So here they are!

Mason Dixon Knitted Christmas stockings!

Next class I will be teaching the Wisteria Shawl Collar Pullover from Lion Brand Yarn Co. It is a free pattern that you can find on there website. http://cache.lionbrand.com/printablePatterns/L0033AD.pdf I decided to teach this one next because I fell in love with the shawl collar pullover. This pattern can be done in their new Amazing color changing yarn which has a beautiful selection of colors or in any solid worsted weight. Just check the pattern to see which size you want to make and multiply the skeins of Amazing times what ever they have in each skein and that is how much you will need in yards to substitute in another worsted weight yarn. I think this pullover looks very flattering on women no matter what there size or shape is. This class will begin at the end of January and will run for 8 weeks.

Mason Dixon Knitting Outside the Lines!

Kitchener Stitch

2010-12-01T08:08:00.000-08:00

This is a great trick for finishing toes on socks or Christmas stockings!

Abby’s Kitchener Stitch:

With tapestry needle in hand and an equal number of stitches facing each other on two double pointed needles start as follows:

Step One: Pull tapestry needle and yarn through the first stitch on your front needle as if to purl, leave on the needle.

Step Two: Pull tapestry needle and yarn through the first stitch on your back needle as if to knit, leave on the needle.

Step Three: Pull tapestry needle and yarn through the first stitch again on your front needle this time as if to knit and take this stitch off your needle. Pull tapestry needle and yarn through your next stitch on your front needle as if to purl and leave on your knitting needle.

Step Four: Pull tapestry needle and yarn through the first stitch again through the back this time as if to purl and take this stitch off your needle. Pull tapestry needle and yarn through your next stitch on your back needle as if to knit and leave on your knitting needle.

Repeat steps 3 and 4 until all stitches have been used up. Fasten off and weave in all your ends.

Now doesn't that look swell!

I taught an adult ed class these past 8 weeks on making a Christmas stocking. The pattern chosen for this class came from a book called Mason-Dixon Knitting outside the lines. I highly recommend this book to anyone that can appreciate a good challenge from the most basic to the Experienced knitter there is something in here for everyone. I also loved reading the articles that go along with everyone of the projects. They make us all feel that we are not alone. That is an important emotion to feel especially when knitting! Enjoy!!:)

Happy Knitting,

Abby

Honoring Veterans Today!

2010-11-11T07:52:00.000-08:00

Today I want to take a moment to honor all veterans! We thank you all for your time and service to help us to feel safe and secure when we rest in our beds at night. Here is a poem written by Ashley Persyn Called Freedom is not free.

Freedom is not Free

by Ashley Persyn

There is a price we pay for freedom

For it is not truly free

But rather paid for by the contributions of veterans

To buy our liberty

As their blood drains from their body and runs like a river through the grass

Over the years it's forgotten, war is placed in our past

I don't think we all realize the importance veterans play

as they voluntarily serve America each and every day

We should honor the veterans for they act like a shield

Protecting us from danger, keeping America healed.

So if you would take a second to commemorate

You will instantly see

We owe veterans our gratitude

For they are the reason we are free

Here are a few of photos in honor of my favorite Veteran! Happy Veterans Day Honey! To the world's best father, husband, teacher and Vet!

Beautiful! Top of Mt. Fuji!

He does stuff like this all the time. He lives for adventure!

Now I know where our boys get it from. Thank you honey for having such a great adventurous spirit!

This is a great Black and white photo. He is the one in the back row on the farthest left side.

I guess no one else was brave enough to face the vicious monster But my Marine!

My favorite photo of my favorite Vet!

Lori's Textile Hat

2010-10-27T14:23:00.000-07:00

I am so excited to present to you my latest pattern. It was designed for my best friend Lori. It is now officially published and available online for purchase for just $3.00 as a pdf(pattern downloadable file)! It took me two days to write and edit it. It took me three to four days to publish it. Please leave a comment and let me know what you think of it!

Thank you so much for all your support everyone! Abby

New Photos, new items

2010-10-13T07:43:00.000-07:00

These are some photos of a new item that I am introducing to my etsy store as well as new photos of items that are already in the store. First ones are of some hand spun yarn made of Corridale wool fiber. I loved playing with this one. It's a 2 ply yarn with the weight of DK or light weight worsted. To knit with would require size U.S. 4-6 or Euro 3.5-4.25mm. I love these colors always have and always will, since I have been a very young child. Teal or Turquoise.

These other photos are of some baby booties that I made. I took new photos hoping that it would help sales a little bit more. I know its hard right now with the economy the way that it is. I try to keep all my cost down very low for that reason alone. I thought that I would make baby booties for my online etsy store because it seems like I am always hearing about someone who is having a baby. It's a fun and unique gift to give that is very special for the receiver. I hope you enjoy looking at the photos and if you are interested in my products feel free to stop by the shop sometime. http://www.etsy.com/shop/Abbyknits1997

Have a wonderful week everyone!

Photo shoot with my sisters!

2010-10-11T05:21:00.000-07:00

I was so excited to get together and have a photo shot with my sisters. I didn't realize just how much fun that it was going to be for us all. We had a blast! As we took the photos, my youngest sister laughed so hard I couldn't believe that she could even continue with it. I started to model and I became extremely goofy. It was a contagious feeling of happiness and much laughter. So here are the result of the shoot. This was for my etsy store by the way. These are not on any other website. Just here to share with my Re*New fans! So you can see just how silly and goofy that I can get. http://www.etsy.com/shop/Abbyknits1997

This is of me and my sisters which my sisters son took(he is only 4 years old)!

Me trying to show the size of the crystal necklace that was extracted from Crystal Park near Polaris, Montana. You can find this and other jewelry on my sisters etsy site: http://www.etsy.com/shop/ruthwhitehair Soon to be added to her store so be looking for it. She also has an amazing bracelet all made from these Crystals. I think they are so cool!

Yep, having a bit of trouble getting this one on. No, I am not drunk. Well maybe with much laughter!

A bit to far down on my head I think. What do you think?

Preciously funny!

This one made my sons and I nearly pee our pants off!

This one too!

Cat Woman or something, I don't really know what I was trying to do here, except to be really silly!

There I go again puckering my lips! Seems to be a common thing for me!

This is what I call my ridem' Cowboy stance! Way to goofy for me. I can't believe that I did that. That one almost made me pee my pants with laughter. I didn't even know that my sister took this one.

Little Miss Pris! I call this one my delicate petite pose. I am not really sure that this is me, but it was fun to pose for it at any rate!

St. Paul's Episcopal Blessing of the Animals

2010-10-04T10:01:00.000-07:00

We do a blessing of the animals every year. This year was a specially fun because our pews where outdoors. There was a nice variety of dogs and other animals including several bunny rabbits and a beautiful chicken. I managed to take a photo of most of the animals but not all for my camera was failing me. Its very old and the last photo that I attempted to take was blurry, I tried three times. Might be time for a new camera! Just before our Priest started to bless them one of the rabbits got loose and there were about 12 people running after it. It was saved just in time for its blessing though. Here are the results from the blessing of the animals, enjoy!

He's Bruno

She's Bruni (short for Brunhilda). She especially needed blessing because the next day she was to go into the OR (operating room) to get her teeth pulled! Ouch!!!!!

She's Tana (short for Montana)! Tana was so excited to be meeting so many animals. Yep, she's a social bug! I had her by the leach for a few minutes and she had the strength to pull her own sled.

Rhubarb Crisp!

2010-09-30T05:30:00.000-07:00

I found a really great recipe in this book that I use a lot called From Amish and Mennonite Kitchens by Phyllis Pellman Good and Rachel Thomas Pellman. I found that I had to rearrange and edit it quite a bit. For instance the temp of 450 degrees for an hour should really be 350 degree for an hour otherwise you will burn your house down not to mention your rhubarb crisp. I also felt that the sugar was way to much so I cut it in half and added more oats as well. What's a good crisp if it is not loaded with oats? So not to delay it any longer the new and improved recipe by: Abigail Turner.

There is nothing like a warm crisp to help you get into the mood for fall weather in anticipation for the winter months that lay ahead of you. Ahh.....I love fall!

Rhubarb Crisp

1/2 C. all-purpose flour

1/2 C. whole wheat flour

3/4 C. old fashioned rolled oats

1/2 packed brown sugar

1 stick of butter melted

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 granulated sugar

2 T. corn starch

1 C. water

1 tsp. vanilla

2 C. fresh or frozen diced rhubarb

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Sift together the flours. Add oats, brown sugar butter and cinnamon until it makes a nice crumbed texture. Divide this crumbed mixture in half. Press half of the mix in a 9" square or round baking pan.

Combine sugar, cornstarch, water and vanilla and heat on medium high in a medium size saucepan. Add rhubarb. Stir until mix starts to become clear and thick.

Pour into your 9" pan on top of pressed crumbed crust. Crumble the remaining oat crumble mix on top of the rhubarb. Bake for 1 hour.

Cut and serve warm with a scoop of ice cream or have some with your coffee in the morning!

Harry Potter Socks

2010-09-17T09:21:00.000-07:00

Well if you all can remember that my personal goal was to produce 5 pairs of socks for each of my boys including my husband of course before school started this year. That would have been 15 pairs. They were suppose to be for school. I didn't feel too bad when I only came up with 3 pairs one for each boy. So here are the results, enjoy!

Here is my son Garrett modeling his pair of socks which by the way he had to pick the yarn for otherwise you can just forget that he would ever consider putting them on. We learned that at a very young age. Now knitting is enjoyable again!

I am modeling my husbands socks which are the same basic rib sock pattern as the boys socks are made by from the book "Charmed Knits", by Alison Hansel. My husband was unavailable to do the modeling for me. That is why the feet are so feminine looking. I also didn't have much patience for him to get home so that I might have him model them for me.

Here are Gavin's Potter socks but only he calls them his "Ron socks" Just so you all know these are called "Dobby socks" in Alison Hansels book, "Charmed Knits" and they are found on page #100.

Bitterroot Scottish Irish Festival

2010-08-30T10:00:00.000-07:00

This was such a wonderful treat for our family to attend this event in our beautiful Bitterroot Valley. We went all three days and our boys had an absolute blast! We purchased them some double handed swords(wooden of course). Which they played with for hours. I only wish that our camera could hold more memory on the card. I missed taking photos of the Athletic Games. Which was definitely one of the best highlights of the festival for me and my husband to watch. Lance said he is defiantly entering into the competitions for next years games. We also enjoyed watching the Highlands dancing free forms and competitions on Saturday. It was a bit drizzly on Sunday with the rain and all, but they had a Sunday morning service under the main tent where they blessed all the Clan Tartans at the end. I became a bit tearful when our son Garrett walked up with our Tartan and proudly placed it on the table to be blessed. I did not get a photo of that but it will remain in my memory for always. Thank you very much to all the organizers of this event in Hamilton, Montana. I hope to see you all next year!

That's Gavin with his double handed sword ready to strike anything that moves!

I loved watching these talented ladies compete. These where my favorite competitors. Such athletes they were. I am looking forward to seeing them again.

The little boy Vikings!

That's us holding the Lamont Clan Traveling Plaque. The couple that has it now is one of the vendors and is from Arkansas. We were lucky enough to be apart of that journey!

Ah, yes dinner in front of the Angus Mohr stage. Gavin's got a spider web painted on his face. Too Cute!

This was apart of the opening ceremonies. Here you will see the Pipers and Drummers leading the clans out at the end of it. Enjoy! I hope to see you all at next years festival! http://www.bitterrootscottishirishfestival.org/

Art show 2007

2010-08-24T08:53:00.001-07:00

I had a show in 2007 at The Frame Shop and Gallery. It mostly consisted of Acrylics and Watercolors. The Clark fork Journal came and interviewed me and also had one of my paintings on the cover of their paper. This is what it said:

All Images are under strict copyrights Abigail Turner2010

Bitterroot Art Beat: Abigail Turner

Fledgling artist obliges viewer to become immersed in the allurement of watercolor painting.

By Brian D’Ambrosio, Editor

Abigail Turner has an artful, pert love of Montana and the prevailing natural beauty of all of the seasons. Working mostly with watercolors, her compositions seem carefully arranged for stark simplicity and contrast; shapes, colors and textures are energized with deliberate placement of subdued shades and brightly vibrant hues.

There exists a kinship and a link to the outdoors within Turner’s paintings that’s quite evident, something that helps bring out an adventurous sense of realism to her material. Indeed, she has discovered that working with watercolor gives her the ability to capture the detail and composition she appreciates in her subjects.

“Every moment and everything has its own beauty. That’s why it is hard at times to pick a subject to paint. I paint the stuff that I want to. Right now, I’ve got ten years’ worth of ideas waiting to come out,” says Turner, who hosted her first art reception on April 27 at the Frame Shop and Gallery, in Hamilton, and who’ll have more than a dozen paintings on display there until the end of May.

From her earliest artistic memories of doodling during art class as a first-grader growing up in Juneau, Alaska, straight through to today, Turner continues to be drawn in by the details of nature, humanity, life, birth and death, and she can find inspiration in anything from a seemingly simple flower to a vivaciously vast landscape.

The hidden qualities present in an object or landscape give Turner’s mind an intense artistic pleasure and deep satisfaction. These pleasures arise as sensory manifestations expressed in the form of shapes, colors, or sounds, novel designs or patterns, or something else less tangible or physical.

“There’s so much that happens over the course of the day that we take for granted or don’t appreciate. There’s beauty everywhere. Art, like beauty, is personal and individual. I want people to feel what I felt when I painted a particular piece: Joy, Sorrow. Happiness.”

Turner describes her work as gestural. She works mostly from poignant photographs that she’s taken here and there and along the way. Indeed, it appears as if she’s spent many hours traveling the back roads of the Bitterroot Valley searching out the places that are quickly succumbing to relentless progress.

“I feel as if I’ve always had the eye for painting. When painting from pictures, things usually turn out the way I want it too. Sometimes, I’ll work on certain areas first or work on the difficult stuff first – it all depends.”

Turner says that she learned to find pleasing, beautiful, and graceful attributes in ordinary objects and things, partly from watching her two children (Garrett is about to turn 4; Gavin is almost 2) – whom she credits, along with her husband Lance, as being inestimable influences on her life.

“Because my husband and I chose for me to stay at home with our children, it has slowed my life down to a gentle crawl. Because of this, my children do not allow me to miss the little things, like stopping to smell every flower, literally – or to count every leaf and pick it up to examine it.”

Turner applies her children’s world-full-of-mystery-wondrousness and natural equanimity to her own paintings.

“When you look at life through the eyes of a child everything is new and exciting. My oldest son, Garrett, who’s almost four, asks me ‘how was this leaf made, mommy?’ or ‘what kind is it?’ I always thought that a butterfly in flight was pretty. But now I get extremely excited when the boys see one, and it’s not just pretty to me – it’s beautiful and magnificent for them to watch.”

Trying to carve out a reputation as an artist can be a little bit like swimming against the current: trying and wearisome. Right now, Turner is still a tenderfoot and she’s doing her best to imagine an art world without limits, without boundaries, without prejudice and blame. To her, increased self-confidence and self-esteem are what the future holds. And, she says, she’ll continue to develop and refine the skills that she continues to rely on today in telling stories through watercolor creativity.

“I’ve grown out of worrying what people think of my art – for the most part. When people come into the gallery and look at my paintings, they may not like all my paintings, but if only one catches their eye and stands out for them, then I would feel that I did my job as an artist to provoke some feeling or emotion.”

Can Turner’s watercolor art evoke an emotion? The answer is unequivocally, yes. Perhaps one of her images, she hopes, will etch an indelible mark in the minds and impressionable retentiveness of those who glance at the artistic arrangements she’s offering with liberated demureness.

“Maybe one of my paintings will conjure up a vivid memory for some people and might even affect the viewer in some way. Some areas of my paintings have a life of their own – and people may be able to see that.”

Leopard print booties!

2010-07-22T10:27:00.000-07:00

These are a pair of booties that I had made and sent to a dear friend of mine that lives in Texas! This is a great story! She had this outfit she bought from the store and decided to make a headband for the baby to match then within the half hour that she finished it my booties showed up on her doorstep to match! Isn't that wonderful? The baby is here now and what a cool outfit! She looks so adorable!

Spokane Trip

2010-07-12T06:59:00.000-07:00

Just went to Spokane to visit with family and friends. Had a blast! Visited my Grandpa in the hospital is soon to be 87 years old and just had heart surgery. Wants to be home in his Tempurputic bed of course. I don't blame him. I would too. Took some photos of downtown. Mostly the Riverfront Park. I thought that some of them came out very nicely. Enjoy!

gingerbread haka

2010-06-30T11:02:00.000-07:00

New Items

2010-06-29T12:11:00.000-07:00

I just finished a custom order for two leopard print girl booties for expecting mothers. I decided to make two more to sell in my Etsy shop.

I also made about 50 plus sheets of thick and thin recycled paper that I also am selling in the shop measuring 8.5" x 11" in size. They vary a bit depending, because of their organic looking edges . Check them out when you get a chance would make a great gift for those crazy scrap bookers, art quilters and charcoal artists or sketch artists.

I had been saving Garrett's school papers from first grade mostly the activity sheets that are recyclable and a few egg cartons for stability and they seems to have done the job quite nicely!

Father's Day Dinner!

2010-06-20T22:13:00.000-07:00

Well it was a huge success! The boys and I made daddy dinner and it was a piece of cake so to speak. We made a home version of Rice a Roni and we used the last bit of frozen peas from our garden last year that the boys and I harvested, and a nice fat slice of garlic Texas toast. For desert we made our version of No Bake Cookies. It was wonderful and that was a hit too! The boys loved making those the best of course.

Chicken Rice a Roni
2 heaping Tablespoons of Butter or Bacon grease
1Cup White rice any kind
1/2 Cup broken 1" pieces of spaghetti noodles
1 lb. chicken chunks or tenders fresh or frozen
31/2 Cups of chicken broth or water(if you use water add a couple of chicken bullion cubes)
1Tablespoon freshly chopped parsley or 1 teaspoon of dried
1 teaspoon of thyme
1 teaspoon of marjoram
salt and pepper to taste

Fry rice and spaghetti noodle pieces in a large electric or stove top skillet about 350 on an electric skillet and about medium high on the stove top until lightly browned and rice looks white and not clear anymore.

Add the chicken and remaining ingredients when it comes to a boil cover and let simmer until rice is tender and chicken is cooked through about 20min.

Now for desert!
The Turner's No Bake Cookie Recipe

1 Cup rolled oats
1 Cup powdered milk
1/2 Cup honey
1/2 Cup Crunchy Peanut Butter or Creamy(we like the Crunchy kind best our selves but what ever your personal preference is)
1/4 Cup of powdered unsweetened coco

Mix all ingredients together in a bowl. It will be dry and you will need to take some time with it and knead it in the bowl with your hands for a while, but be patient it is all worth it!

Once the mix is somewhat form-able you may scoop up small chunks at at time pressing in your hands and form them into balls. Then lay them on a cookie sheet with wax, parchment paper or freezer paper and set in the fridge to chill, they will be ready to eat by the time dinner is done. If you have any extra which in our case that wasn't, store it in an air tight container and keep in your fridge, I think that they taste better when chilled a bit especially in the summer time. Makes 20 small rounded pieces.

Painting is finished!! Hooray!

2010-06-18T21:26:00.000-07:00

I finished it yesterday and only need to add the signature at the bottom. I can't believe that its done. I can't wait to do another. Just as soon as I finish my other custom orders, I just received two more. Between that and painting and cleaning and playing and reading to the boys for our summer reading program our summer is going to fly by. Not to mention camping, fishing and floating the river. Isn't life so sweet?

Here is the final painting, I hope?

2010-06-16T14:05:00.000-07:00

I think that I am done with this painting that is a custom order. I am waiting now to hear back from the woman who is buying it. I only need her approval of it before I can send it out and sign my name upon it. I think that it turned out better than the original painting and its a bit of a shame almost that we can't keep it ourselves. I am thinking about repainting the original to get it to look the way that I like it to, and also the way that my hubby likes it as well. The boys sure loved watching me paint, something that I also think that I need to do more often. When do we as mother's have the time to do all the things that we desire to do. We make time!

Custom orders anyone??

2010-06-10T07:50:00.000-07:00

I was really slow there for a while in March and April then I received two custom orders! How awesome is that? Anyway one is for a wonderful lady from the mid-west that has commissioned me to do an acrylic painting for her based off of the one listed on my etsy store called "Where night meets day" which by the way was painted from a couple of photos that I had taken of a beautiful sunrise a day or two before Christmas Eve one year. This painting will be different from the one listed as it will have softer tones to it and the size is a 20 X 30" as appose to the 36 X 47" one listed. Anyway I am about almost half way through to completion and was excited so far about the results that I wanted to share.

I also just got a custom order to do some denim baby booties! Only the size is going to be 6-9months instead of the 0-3months like the ones that I have listed. and since this is for an older baby I though that it might be appropriate to do a slipper bottom on it. What do you think? Since most babies like to start crawling and standing up by then.

2010-06-08T11:43:00.000-07:00

I am working on some socks right now from a book called Charmed knits off of the Harry Potter Series, a great book for those of you who love to knit and love Harry Potter. I am making Harry's Sock. But in really bright self stripping sock yarn. It has been a joy to make. My goal is to make 5 pairs for each boy in my family so that's 15 pairs total! 30 socks! I want them all made for their next school year, think that I can do it?? I hope so!

Sampler Pillow Pattern

2010-06-07T08:57:00.000-07:00

An image of the back of the pillow.
The Sampler Pillow is now available for purchase. I highly recommend it to anyone who would love to learn something new and to help them get past any fears that they might have about cabling, color work, simple lace, and buttonhole techniques. Thank you so much for stopping in and I hope to see you again soon. Happy Knitting, Abby

Neck warmer pattern

2010-06-07T08:46:00.000-07:00

You can now download it for free on the side bar. Thanks for stopping by I hope to have even more for you to see really soon! Happy knitting!

Crochet and knitted toys

2010-06-02T11:33:00.002-07:00

These are some of my boys knitted and crocheted toys. the robot is from a book written by: Zoe Mellor called: Knitted Toys includes 25 patterns. The tooth fairy pillow is a free pattern that I got off of KnitPick.com. The earthworm is from Amigurumi Knits by: Hansi Singh whom use to have a store on etsy but I've only found here personally through flicker. Her book includes 20 cute knit patterns highly recommend this one its great. I recently started crocheting again, which I haven't done in years. Mostly inspired by my new love of the Amigurumi knitted and crocheted toys, I love them. They are great! My boys love them and I do too, especially since they use up all the scrap yarn that I didn't know what to do with otherwise. My new favorite book now is called Tasty crochet. So far I've tried the pumpkin pie and strawberries. I love the way that it works up so quickly! This book contains 33 patterns to choose from. My boys love all of these books and I highly recommend them all to you to try. Have fun with it. Happy knitting and crocheting, Abby

Sampler Pillow

2010-05-24T05:40:00.000-07:00

Wow I am so excited to share this with you all! I just completed this pattern and have converted it to pdf so it is avalible in my etsy store @ Http://Abbyknits1997.etsy.com
It is a great pattern for those of you that are a bit more than a beginner knitter. Its primarily for Intermediate to Advanced level, but don't be discouraged because some of my new students who only started last fall attempted this one and with much success. So check it out when you get a chance and please let me know if you have any questions at all. Happy Knitting! Abby

Neck Warmer Pattern

2010-05-10T08:04:00.000-07:00

Yeah, the pattern is ready! I have this pattern for sale in my etsy store now for $3. When it is purchased you will be able to receive this by email. If you purchase any of my recycled yarns in my store you will receive this pattern for free as an extra thank you.

This is a pattern designed for the beginner in mind. You have to know or learn how to cast on stitches, knit stitches and know how to bind off.

Creating Designs

2010-05-04T21:25:00.000-07:00

Creating a design is so much fun. The technical part, not so much fun. Looking into and doing research about copyright laws and how to get one for my designs, and so on and so forth. It takes so much longer to go through the process. I am sure that it will be worth it in the end though. Here is a design that I came up with and have not yet converted it to a PDF file. I hope you like the preview. Leave a comment for me if you do. It's a Neck Warmer. Simple and sweet I made this one from some hand spun alpaca fiber and mixed it up with some really nice unraveled yarn from a sweater which I believe contained angora and Merino. Hope you like!

Amigurumi Knits

2010-04-26T11:46:00.000-07:00

I just made these adorable little earthworms from a book called Amigurumi Knits by: Hansi Singh. It is a wonderful little book and I highly recommend it if you have little kids or grandchildren or are in need of a cute gift to give as a birthday present to a child. There is a praying mantis, a spider, snail, hermit crab(which I think that I am going to make for my lovely husband and surprise him with it on his pillow before he goes to bed one night), eggplant, garlic mythical creatures and more..... Check it out when you get a chance. If your local yarn shop does not have it in stock see if they can order it in for you. You won't be sorry and neither will your local store, they may even order some in for their store if they haven't already. It is a new age in knitting and I hope you are all ready for it. PS my son's named their earthworms Martin and Slaphappy, cute huh?

2010-04-20T09:22:00.001-07:00

Getting started

2010-04-20T09:10:00.000-07:00

I have had a store on Etsy for about a month now and have been enjoying it immensely! I love that I feel connected to so many talented people. It is really neat as well to see where some of the people that have marked me as a favorite store are from. It is also very cool that I can view their items that they sell as well. I am selling mostly knitted items but are not limited to the imagination. I also sell original art, sewn items hand made recycled paper that I made my self with my children. Come and check out the store if you google it at: Abbyknits1997 it will take you directly to my store. Pretty cool! Let me know what you think of it.